Firecracker industry in Tamil Nadu's Sivakasi: They make your Diwali memorable

With Diwali kissing distance away, here’s a look at the firecracker industry in Tamil Nadu’s Sivakasi, which provided the bang for your buck.
Firecracker industry in Tamil Nadu's Sivakasi: They make your Diwali memorable

With Diwali kissing distance away, here’s a look at the firecracker industry in Tamil Nadu’s Sivakasi, which provided the bang for your buck. Note the lack of even basic safety norms and the risks it takes for manufacture

In a brick-walled cubicle with a tin roof, four workers sit on a gunny sack, sifting through black powder and stuffing it in small paper rolls. Their bare bodies gleam with sweat and silver as they give the finishing touches to a cherry bomb consignment slated for shipment to Andhra Pradesh.

Like them, thousands of workers in the factories of Sivakasi in Virudhanagar district of Tamil Nadu work round the clock from months prior to Diwali making firecrackers to meet the humongous demand of the season.

To cater to the rising demand for pyrotechnics, the Sivakasi fireworks industry has been experimenting with high-risk chemicals. With very less or no training, the result is often disastrous for the labour force.
As many as 16 fireworks-related accidents in Sivakasi occurred during 2016-2017, killing 30 and injuring 28 — majority of them factory workers, according to a report by the Petroleum and Explosives Safety Organisation. The worst took place in 2012 when 38 lives were lost after a massive blaze engulfed a factory.

However, the 7,00,000 workers in Sivakasi, a small town which accounts for 90 per cent of the fireworks production in India, have no other option but to depend on the hazardous industry for their livelihood.

Not only is this industry an immediate risk to factory workers but it also has long-term health risks embedded in it for the workers who are not given proper safety equipment.

Diseases like asthma and tuberculosis are prevalent among 90 per cent of the workers who are involved in gunpowder filling and thereby are in direct contact with the chemical ingredients.

Also prevalent is child labour, according to various studies. In fact, Nobel laureate Kailash Satyarthi had said that the Sivakasi fireworks industry employs to over 1,00,000 child labourers, though his claims have been contested by the Tamil Nadu Fireworks and Amorces Manufacturers’ Association.

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The New Indian Express
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